Chapter 99: Partial Memory, When I Came
How… how could it be like this?
Yin Buran’s movements were very fast, but in Ning Ruoque’s eyes, this was still something that could be easily avoided.
However, when that cool hand rested on her shoulder, Ning Ruoque was as if she had been frozen, her whole body stiff, unable to move.
She let the soft lips kiss her cheek, the corner of her mouth, and then their lips and teeth were intertwined.
She let out a muffled groan.
The desk was suddenly pushed away, and the chess pieces clattered to the ground.
The sunlight outside the window passed through the white crabapple tree, and a sparrow leaped onto a branch, tilting its head to size them up.
Ning Ruoque’s peripheral vision caught a glimpse, and her heart was instantly in a mess, like the chess pieces.
She hurriedly pushed Yin Buran away and heard a not-so-regular gasp.
The person before her was a little dazed, and her lips were stained with a watery sheen, looking even more full.
A hint of sweetness seemed to linger on the tip of her tongue. Ning Ruoque lowered her eyelids, not daring to look.
She couldn’t figure it out. A touch of rouge on a body of ice and jade, how… how could it be so heart-itching?
She tried to hide her panic, and the excuse she found was also clumsy.
“Daytime… is it not very good?”
Yin Buran slowly blinked, as if she had just come back to her senses.
She thought of that game of chess, and with some annoyance, she pulled down the light-blocking curtain and frowned. “There’s no one else here.”
She looked up, a heart-stopping crimson at the corners of her eyes, and her words were like light and airy clouds. “So, are you not going to kiss me?”
“…”
It was unknown if it was because the temperature in the room was too high, or if Yin Buran’s incense was too sweet, but Ning Ruoque’s throat bobbed, and she felt thirsty.
Reason had left in the intertwined breaths. By the time Ning Ruoque had reacted, she had already kissed her back.
Her hand was more used to holding a sword. The hilt was hard and cold, and she had to hold it tightly to prevent it from slipping.
Now, when it covered Yin Buran’s waist, it was a completely different touch from the hilt. She was always afraid of not being able to control her strength and hurting her.
So her fingers tapped on the side of her waist, and then rubbed a few times, as if they were close but not, and never really landed.
Yin Buran finally managed to say a word and immediately glared at her. “If you don’t want to do it, then don’t.”
These words sounded like she was angry.
Ning Ruoque was startled at first and thought that she had done something wrong. She was at a loss and wanted to kiss Yin Buran.
After a careful look, she found that Yin Buran’s eyes were wet, as if she were about to be bullied to tears.
The hand that was clutching Ning Ruoque’s lapel had no strength, so she simply hugged her, and her entire weight was pressed on Ning Ruoque.
Feeling Ning Ruoque’s calloused palm stroking her skin, Yin Buran covered her lips with the back of her hand.
But a few low moans that had accidentally escaped still made her own earlobes turn red.
Yin Buran did not take the initiative to ask for anything, but Ning Ruoque was good at drawing inferences, and she would also observe carefully, learn with an open mind, and secretly record.
She picked up a strand of her lover’s white hair and pecked at it, from the ear to the corner of the eye, from the forehead to the corner of the mouth, and finally kissed the small mole on her collarbone.
She even praised with genuine feeling, “Ranran, you’re so beautiful.”
Her speech was slow, not in a hurry at all.
Afraid of misunderstanding something, or perhaps suddenly wanting to reminisce about the past, Ning Ruoque even stopped to explain, “Actually, I’ve secretly kissed you before. You didn’t know.”
The corners of her mouth turned up a little, and her eyes also brightened.
Although she had a rather sharp appearance, she was now smiling shyly. Her curved eyes and flushed face made her look a little foolish.
“Because… because secretly kissing you makes me happy, but leaving you is very sad.”
After Ning Ruoque finished speaking, she paused for a moment, and her smile disappeared.
Then she carefully tucked Yin Buran’s stray hair behind her ear and said with apprehension, “I only kissed your face. It’s not overstepping, right? Don’t be angry.”
What responded to her was a light bite on her ear.
Yin Buran was very angry now.
A certain sword cultivator was so long-winded that one would think she was an old antique dug out from some cave.
She thought of Ning Ruoque’s life-bound sword.
A divine weapon has a spirit. “Dao is Hidden and Nameless” was domineering and straightforward. It dared to directly cut off things it didn’t like, and it would insist on Ning Ruoque taking the things it liked, not shy at all.
If only Ning Ruoque had half of “Dao is Hidden and Nameless’s” temper, she would not be so hard to bear now.
Yin Buran was so angry that she wanted to punch her, but she had no strength, and her bite didn’t even hurt.
She only hoped for some things that were hard to say, such as that the flower-cherishing person could be a little bolder.
But she was also afraid that the dew on the flower would wet her sleeves, making this scene seem too unreserved.
Yin Buran’s hand naturally rested on Ning Ruoque’s waist, wanting to push her down.
After trying several times, she failed.
She frowned, and when she looked up, she met Ning Ruoque’s straight gaze.
The latter instantly lowered her head, and it was unknown if it was because she was guilty or something, but her face was even redder than a peach blossom.
Yin Buran leaned over and pecked her a few times, her fingers hooking Ning Ruoque’s belt, and she threatened fiercely, “Talk less.”
“Oh, oh, alright.” Ning Ruoque nervously went to grab Yin Buran’s hand.
She grabbed it, held it, and intertwined their fingers.
She couldn’t figure out what she wanted to do, but Yin Buran was willing to cooperate and relaxed her body.
In just a few breaths, Ning Ruoque had composed herself and tentatively passed over a few strands of spiritual energy.
This matter required full concentration. She ignored the astonishment in Yin Buran’s eyes and focused on guiding the circulation of her spiritual energy.
The way of heaven is to take from what has a surplus and give to what is deficient.
The spiritual energy flowed through her meridians, both nourishing Yin Buran’s body and replenishing Ning Ruoque’s spiritual soul.
In the past, it was always Yin Buran who had taken the initiative to “enter” Ning Ruoque’s sea of consciousness, but now she was “pushed” to meet Ning Ruoque’s spiritual soul.
Like a small boat falling into the waves, the splashes of water were not only dizzying, but also numbing to the bone.
She couldn’t help but tense her insteps.
A teardrop hung on her eyelashes, and with a light blink, it slid down her cheek, and was then gently kissed away by Ning Ruoque.
Yin Buran wrinkled Ning Ruoque’s clothes.
This technique clearly required both parties to relax their guard at the same time and give sufficient trust in order to operate smoothly.
The current situation was clearly not in line with this.
She could only sigh in a daze, As expected of a highly talented sword cultivator, she values efficiency.
She could learn any cultivation technique at a glance and even improve it.
Yin Buran had reason to believe that even without dual cultivation, she could safely probe Ning Ruoque’s spiritual soul and memory.
She trusted herself and thought that this was a matter of course.
The deliberate change in her cultivation method was probably also to express her thoughts.
If we only look at the practical aspect, some steps were omitted, and the improved technique was both fast and good.
But Yin Buran still fiercely bit Ning Ruoque’s shoulder.
Ning Ruoque hurriedly stopped. “Why are you crying?”
Who taught this person to be so unbelievably soft, like a pool of warm water? Ning Ruoque was always afraid of hurting her.
She held Yin Buran’s face and kissed it again and again with heartache.
Until a strange feeling came, Ning Ruoque was stunned, and the hand holding Yin Buran trembled slightly.
She turned her head, almost losing her self-control, and even her voice changed its tone. “This is…”
Sympathy.
This is probably a side effect of the fusion of their spiritual souls, which only exists in special circumstances.
What a miscalculation. Yin Buran had never mentioned this at all!
After a brief moment of panic, Ning Ruoque immediately frowned and said, half-wronged and half-serious, “This is not good. We have to find a way to solve it.”
“What if I get injured and you feel it with me? Wouldn’t you also be in pain?”
For example, before, the faint pain of her spiritual soul shattering had always been with her, so she couldn’t let Yin Buran also suffer this kind of pain.
As soon as her voice fell, she was pinched on the waist by Yin Buran.
Yin Buran really wanted to pat a certain sword cultivator’s wooden head and tell her through gritted teeth that the beauty of this “side effect” was not in this.
But it was their first try, and both of them were not very skilled.
The spiritual energy had brought back too many messy memory fragments, and her mind was now in a mess.
She was too lazy to waste her breath and shrank into Ning Ruoque’s arms to calm her thoughts.
She even rubbed against her a few times, her full head of white hair a mess.
She heard Ning Ruoque ask in a light-hearted tone, “And then? What should I do?”
Someone was not tired at all, but was in high spirits. Or rather, she was just purely slow to warm up.
Yin Buran was silent for a moment, and completely gave up thinking.
She found a comfortable position for herself and instructed in a hoarse voice, “Hold me.”
Ning Ruoque held her even tighter.
She counted the two of them’s fast and slow heartbeats and patiently waited for the next instruction.
From time to time, she would stroke Yin Buran’s head and kiss her on the cheek.
Like holding her beloved steamed bun, she wanted to eat it, but she couldn’t bear to for a while.
Until an incense stick had passed, she watched as Yin Buran’s breathing became more and more steady, her sleeping face serene.
Ning Ruoque was stunned for a moment. “Ranran?”
Yin Buran did not answer.
Her energy was already not as good as an ordinary person’s, and she had been taking care of Ning Ruoque and staying up all night playing chess. She should have been sleepy long ago.
Now that her tense mood had completely relaxed, she was nestled in Ning Ruoque’s arms, sleeping very soundly.
Ning Ruoque: “…”
How… how could it be like this?
The sword cultivator visibly drooped, like a wronged little puppy that had been punished, listless.
She didn’t want to wake her up and only blamed herself for pushing her luck and asking for too much.
Ning Ruoque poured herself a cup of cold tea and drank it all in one gulp.
Then she tidied her clothes, stuffed Yin Buran into the quilt, and slipped out of the room in a daze, going outside to practice her sword.
*
After such a morning, Yin Buran had slept for a whole day.
When she woke up, she did not mention the matter of dual cultivation at all and only asked Qingtong to bring a thick stack of medical books, and she read them slowly.
Qingtong brought good news from the outside. There was no trouble at the border.
The restlessness of the demon race seemed to have only been for those few days, and now it had returned to peace.
The Immortal Alliance had borrowed a medical cultivator from Azurefall Creek to treat the wounded on the front line.
The only problem was that the outside world was all guessing.
Why had the Dao is Hidden and Nameless sword left the barrier for no reason? Where was it now?
Ning Ruoque frowned as she listened, while Yin Buran still had that nonchalant expression.
She kicked Ning Ruoque with her bare foot and said lazily, “I want to eat noodles.”
Ning Ruoque came back to her senses, quickly pulled over a fur blanket, and wrapped that pair of snow-white and delicate feet.
This set of actions was as smooth as flowing clouds, which made Qingtong click her tongue a few times. “Little Senior Sister, I’m going back to brew the medicine. Call me again if you need anything.”
“Also, Sect Master Chu just contacted me and said that she will be here tonight. She told Ning Ruoque to wait properly.”
Ning Ruoque was a little surprised. “So fast?”
Chu Xuan probably used some special method.
Qingtong quickly interjected, “I heard that she used hundreds of teleportation formations. She’s really rich.”
Teleportation formations, which were short-distance and expensive, would not be used unless it was a matter of life and death.
Ning Ruoque was worried and tried to contact the other, but she failed.
She looked back at Yin Buran, and the latter yawned lazily.
Because she had slept very well, her tone was a rare softness. “Chu Xuan has a sense of propriety in major matters. Perhaps there is something that can only be said in person.”
It was useless to be anxious. Ning Ruoque had no choice but to roll up her sleeves and go to cook for Yin Buran.
The stove fire was lit in the kitchen, and the clear water in the pot was boiling.
The originally clear and cold Suwen Peak, which was like a fairyland, suddenly had a wisp of human cooking smoke.
Ning Ruoque had kneaded the dough and had also stir-fried a large bowl of meat sauce.
Just as she was about to put the noodles in, a loud sound suddenly came from outside, as if a heavy object had hit the ground.
She stopped her movements and went out to check without thinking.
A small pit had been smashed into the flagstones in the front courtyard, and the plants and trees were in a mess, as if they had been attacked by a demonic beast.
Ning Ruoque followed the sound and saw Chu Xuan standing in the shade of the covered corridor.
A large, dark mass, and it was unknown what she was doing.
“Chu Xuan?” She did not go over.
Chu Xuan silently took a breath, as if she were brewing something, and then raised her hand and threw a sword over.
It was the Dao is Hidden and Nameless.
The long sword was extremely heavy in her hand. Ning Ruoque drew it out to look.
The body of the sword was already perfect, just that it was missing a touch of bright red. Her eyes reflected the cold light on the edge of the sword, and its killing intent was still unchanged.
Just as Ning Ruoque was about to sheathe her sword, “Thank you, you—”
A black shadow came at her!
After a sneering sound, Chu Xuan’s figure was in front of her in a flash.
The giant axe cut through her stray hair, and just as she was about to be hit, Ning Ruoque nimbly turned around and dodged.
She held her sword, her heart still pounding as she looked at the gloomy-faced Chu Xuan.
After sizing her up several times, she finally confirmed that the other was not joking at all.
Without waiting for her to ask clearly, the giant axe came again, and Ning Ruoque had no choice but to block with her sword.
The clashing spiritual energy blew up the flagstones beside the two of them. Back and forth, sand and stones flew, and the originally neat front courtyard was instantly in a mess.
Chu Xuan only cared about attacking, and her every move was aimed at Ning Ruoque’s face, without any mercy.
Ning Ruoque blocked them all, but she couldn’t help but be provoked a little.
Did this person eat the wrong mushroom? What’s with this madness? Or is it that the evil and killing intent in the sword has already affected her?
Her long sword slid down the handle of the axe, creating a trail of brilliant white sparks. “Chu Xuan, wake up.”
Chu Xuan gritted her teeth and replied hatefully, “Wake up for what? I’m just hitting you!”
That look was as if she wished she could beat Ning Ruoque into the mud.
“Bang!”
Ning Ruoque was forced back several steps by a huge explosion and barely stopped after hitting a corridor pillar.
When she blinked again, the person had already disappeared from her original spot and had appeared behind Chu Xuan without anyone noticing.
Another clap of thunder sounded, and the barrier of Suwen Peak lit up with a faint light.
Ning Ruoque was sure that Chu Xuan had been affected by the killing intent.
Although she had withdrawn her hand, the sword qi, which was as swift as the wind, had still destroyed more than half of the front courtyard.
The two of them were in a fight. The giant axe hit the slender body of the sword, and the thunder and fire burned the plants and trees. Neither of them was willing to give in.
Seeing that the pavilions in the garden were also about to be destroyed, a stream of light forcefully inserted itself.
Si Mingyue blocked Chu Xuan’s giant axe with her staff and grabbed Ning Ruoque’s arm with one hand, shouting in a very loud voice, “Don’t fight! No one is allowed to fight!”
“…”
After a brief silence, the Dao is Hidden and Nameless sword let out a hum and left her hand.
Chu Xuan directly threw away her giant axe and punched at Ning Ruoque.
The scene had already lost control.
The two of them in the fight rolled into a ball, their movements so fast that they couldn’t be seen clearly.
Chu Xuan’s fist was aimed at Ning Ruoque’s face. Ning Ruoque turned her head to dodge and twisted Chu Xuan’s arm with her backhand.
“Don’t fight, don’t fight! Let’s talk it out!”
Si Mingyue was so anxious that she was jumping up and down on the side. She tried to pull the two apart several times, pulling Chu Xuan’s hand and then hugging Ning Ruoque’s waist.
It didn’t work!
She felt that she was like a ball of cotton, being pushed around by the two of them, and she was almost slapped.
Her beautiful headscarf also fell into the mud and was trampled until it was unrecognizable.
She got up and wiped her face, clenched her fists, and really couldn’t stand it anymore. She slammed her staff on the ground with force.
“Everyone, stop!”
The staff burst out with an extremely terrifying spiritual pressure.
Coincidentally, this spiritual pressure hit the spiritual energy of the two of them at the same time.
“Hum—”
Suwen Peak was suddenly quiet, and even the sound of the birds had disappeared.
At first, there was only a ripple, like a dragonfly touching the water.
But then it created an invisible wave, distorting all the scenery before them.
Without having time to stop it, Ning Ruoque had no choice but to summon the Nameless sword to block.
Chu Xuan was so scared that she bared her teeth and threw out several talismans.
The “wave” continued to expand, crushing all the buildings in the front courtyard, and went forward, forward, until it touched Suwen Peak’s “Heavenly Weather Grand Formation.”
The three of them couldn’t help but hold their breath.
When Ning Ruoque had first come, Qingtong had introduced that the Medicine King doted on Yin Buran and had used the Heavenly Weather Grand Formation to make Suwen Peak like spring all year round.
Of course, there were also drawbacks. Because of this formation, Suwen Peak had to sacrifice a part of its defense.
Now this drawback was completely exposed.
In full view of everyone, the Heavenly Weather Grand Formation resisted all the spiritual pressure with its own strength, and it itself cracked with a “crack”—
It shattered.
The winter wind suddenly came, and a cold rain fell.
The delicate spiritual flowers and spiritual grasses of Suwen Peak were as if their life force had been drained, and more than half of them had withered in a few breaths.
Ning Ruoque caught a withered yellow flower petal and unconsciously shrank back.
This was a white crabapple blossom petal, a flower that Yin Buran loved.
When she looked up again, a white shadow came gracefully.
In front of the collapsed moon gate, Yin Buran’s expression was blank, and she did not say a word.
Her gaze fell on the courtyard, which was full of broken flowers and rubble, as if she were considering how to step.
After finally taking a step forward, her snow-white hem was wet by the muddy water.
Yin Buran retreated in disgust.
It was not an ordinary disgust, but a very, very strong disgust.
She even wanted to throw away everything messy in front of her, including the dirty things like Chu Xuan and Ning Ruoque.
In the deathly silence, she suddenly covered her mouth with her sleeve and coughed a few times.
It was unknown if it was from anger or something else, but her eyes were red.
The three people opposite her trembled at the same time.
If they actively admitted their mistake, they might be able to avoid a scolding.
Thinking of this, Si Mingyue decisively hugged her head and squatted down, crying.
“They did it! It has nothing to do with me!”
